Shannon Capacity Analysis of a 4G Network at Site UPD104 Racing Center

Abstract

This study analyzes the Shannon channel capacity of a 4G network at Site UPD104 Racing Center, Makassar, and compares it against the network's actual delivered throughput. Channel capacity was evaluated using the Drive Test method in dedicated mode, measuring radio and data-transfer parameters in real time during simultaneous download and upload sessions with a Samsung Galaxy Note 5 running TEMS Pocket, analyzed in TEMS Investigation 23.1. The parameters examined were RSSI, RSRP, RSRQ, SINR, the modulation scheme selected by the network, actual throughput, and the theoretical Shannon capacity computed from the measured SINR and a 20 MHz channel bandwidth on the 1800 MHz band. Results show RSSI, RSRP, and RSRQ were consistently Excellent to Good, with RSSI 100% Excellent (-80 to -40 dBm), RSRP 52.7% Excellent, and RSRQ 63.0% Excellent, while SINR was more variable, split mainly between Good (57.5%) and Normal (34.3%), indicating residual interference. These SINR levels, combined with adaptive modulation reaching 64-QAM, correspond to theoretical Shannon capacities of roughly 70 to 107 Mbps at individual measurement points. However, the measured throughput for both download and upload sessions was entirely in the Poor category (100% below 324 kbps), revealing a very large gap between theoretical channel capacity and actual delivered performance. This gap indicates that the radio link itself is not the limiting factor, and that the effective capacity utilization of the network is constrained by factors beyond the radio interface, such as backhaul capacity or network congestion, warranting further investigation of the transport network.